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'Cheap Chic' Draws Crowds on 5th Ave.

On Friday, a crowd packed the sidewalk waiting for the 10 a.m. opening of H&M, a purveyor of cheap chic that is Manhattan's latest temple to consumerism. Held back by velvet ropes, as if at a nightclub, customers were squeezed shoulder to shoulder. The instant the portals swung open, they rushed the racks, snatching up $9 tank tops, $30 dresses and $19 drawstring pants -- the fashion equivalent of fast food, in both price and trendiness.

Many failed to notice that it was soon well past the hour when more conscientious New Yorkers are at their desks. ''I'm supposed to be at an audition right now, and I have to catch a plane at 1,'' said Becky Bahling, 22, an actress. But the prospect of missed flights and squandered opportunities seemed not to faze her. ''I want this and I want it now,'' she said, slipping on a caramel-colored leather coat that cost $170.

On another day last week, Diego Del Pino, 26, a Web site designer for Sothebys.com, was making his third visit to the store since its opening on March 31. He plucked out a pair of $39.99 trousers to match a $69.99 gray linen sport coat. ''Before I came here, I used to shop at the Gap and Banana Republic,'' he said. ''But lately those stores have been so boring. The design just isn't there.'' As for prices, he said, ''Well, compared to almost anywhere, this place is heaven.''

Judging by the throngs descending on H&M, on Fifth Avenue at 51st Street, many shoppers do regard it as a retail Nirvana. On Saturday there was a 25-minute wait for one of the unisex dressing rooms, and customers were changing in the aisles. A woman demanded a paisley skirt from a mannequin when the racks were emptied. At peak hours, the store restocks from garment racks on the sidewalks and trucks waiting in the street.

''People told us that New Yorkers didn't line up to come into stores,'' said Par Darj, director of United States operations for H&M, a Stockholm-based chain with 700 stores in 12 European countries. ''How did this happen? We're very surprised.''

So are retail experts. ''They're able to translate forward fashion quickly at value prices, and at least in the first few days, they have been very successful,'' said Arnold Aronson, managing director of retail strategies for Kurt Salmon Associates, a retail consulting firm. ''I've seen consumers walking out not with onesies and twosies, but with dozens of garments. If the store can make adequate margins to satisfy their profit needs, then they've got something very relevant.''

The press of shoppers is all the more remarkable considering that only a month ago, few New Yorkers had heard of H&M, or Hennes & Mauritz, as it is formally known. But on the strength of a last-minute flurry of advertisements featuring the actress Chloe Sevigny and enthusiastic word of mouth, the store has succeeded, for the moment at least, in pumping consumers' adrenalin levels to dizzying heights. Mr. Darj said 2,000 shoppers rushed into the 35,000-square-foot store the first 13 minutes it was open.

H&M arrives at a time when consumer shopping patterns have changed markedly in the United States. Ever on the prowl for bargains, and made cynical by frequent store markdowns and promotions, even many affluent customers have deserted department stores. They shop instead at discounters like Target and outlet centers like Woodbury Common in Central Valley, N.Y.

''It's chic to pay less,'' said Howard L. Davidowitz, a New York retail analyst. ''More now than it ever has been.''

The success of chains like Old Navy has shown that even in an economic boom, customers will flock to retailers offering deep discounts. But while Old Navy sells basics like T-shirts and cargo shorts, H&M's formula is to offer much hipper fashion at rock-bottom prices. With most items priced well below $100, even the occasional cheap-feeling fabric or frayed hem isn't turning off shoppers intent on getting the latest Helmut Lang or Prada look-alike. The clothes are for the most part a synthesis of current runway fashion and street styles: fringed and embroidered hippie chic, lots of leather, uptown ladylike clothes.

Margareta van den Bosch, H&M's chief designer, maintained that her 70-member team, which designs under 23 labels for men, women and children, was not creating knockoffs. ''Of course we follow fashion,'' she said. ''We have invested quite a lot in that. But we want to do things our own way.''

In the recent past, urban shoppers on the prowl for cutting-edge style at deep discounts had to wait for sales at midprice apparel chains like Zara, Club Monaco or Scoop, or ferret out deals amid the bedding and barbecue grills at Kmart and Target. H&M stores cater to young-minded patrons who prefer to shop guilt-free for fashion that can be discarded after only a season or so.

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''They're coming in at a level between Target and the department stores,'' said Candace Corlett, a partner at WSL Retail Strategies, a retail consultant. ''It certainly has the competition sitting up and taking notice.''

Stores like Lerner New York, the Limited Express and Bloomingdale's, which might be most directly affected if H&M sets off a price war, seem to have a wary eye on the newcomer. Bloomingdale's ran ads last week linking style and value in what seemed an obvious attempt to compete.

A spokesman for Lerner New York, Philip Monaghan, said there were so few stores selling truly stylish clothes at ultralow prices that the arrival of H&M would not set off a price war. ''I don't think we're going to feel the impact from H&M,'' he said. ''They're not in the malls of America yet.''

But H&M intends to be there. Days after opening on Fifth Avenue, the chain opened a second 35,000-square-foot store at the Palisades Mall in West Nyack, N.Y. And on Thursday, it will open a third at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J. There are also plans for a 40,000-square-foot store on West 34th Street, around the corner from Macy's, and a store on Lexington Avenue in the former Alexander's location. Retail analysts estimate that the chain plans 100 stores nationwide.

But some experts said they doubted H&M could sustain such aggressive expansion, speculating that profits would suffer. ''H&M appears to be doing a large number of transactions,'' said Richard B. Hodos, the president of HGCD Retail Service, a retail consulting and brokerage firm. ''But it would be interesting to see the average dollar amount that they are ringing up.''

Mr. Darj declined to cite revenue figures for the store's first week, or to specify how much H&M must sell to be profitable. But he did say the numbers were ''well beyond our expectations.''

Other analysts questioned whether the notion of ''disposable chic'' would ultimately prove distasteful to customers. ''It's the kind of merchandise we used to call flash and trash,'' said Richard Jaffee, a retail analyst at Paine Webber.

But Mr. Jaffe praised what he called the store's energy level: its mix of shoppers, young and old, hip and fashion-clueless, and the amount of socializing that goes on while customers shop. ''The store is positioned to generate the same kind of excitement we used to see on the main floor of Bloomingdale's 20 years ago,'' he said.

On Friday, Mattie Ullrich, 26, a movie costume designer, was weighed down by her haul, which included a plaid skirt ($25) and a tiger-print tank top ($17). ''This is fun,'' she said, teetering toward a register. Holding up a sleeveless bead-embroidered sweater, she said, ''I love this top.''

''The only bummer,'' she added, ''is that by this time next week everyone else in New York will have it, too.''